True Stories Sharing the Art and Science of Fascinating Insects

Monthly Archives: August 2018

This was a Wow! of a find. White Tank Mountains Regional Park, west of Phoenix, Arizona. I pulled over my rental car, and began exploring the dry, cactus rich land at the foothills of the mountains.

I was not sure what I might find in that foreign (to me) vast space. This Orangetip flew in and chose to rest here. Me? What? Aren’t you far, far, too far away from the northeast, to be a Falcate Orangetip?

I shot away, and was beyond Happy! to discover that I had met my First Desert Orangetip, and that he was as juicy orange as those the Orange Julius’ folks got at that corner of East 86th Street on New York’s tony Upper Eastside.

I look at this capture of mine now, with some satisfaction, that was so rich of color, smack dab in the middle of the bone dry desert.

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Marcie’s Facebook shared today was bubbling with excitement! There it was, the first Tawny Emperor butterfly that she ever saw in her active South Carolina garden. She had a beauty of a Tawny, and I made sure to stoke her enthusiasm, or at least hope I did. That led me to remembering Caron’s request last week. She asked that I, having seen her 5 ‘favorite’ images, come back with my 5 favs.

When Marcie offered up her Tawny, I realized that I too had a Tawny Emperor image that I loved, and that might well have been included in Jeff’s 5 favorites images.

This is it. When I saw this other worldly magnificent, it was resting in the weak sun of the early morning, on a trail marker post. I’d never seen one before, and me? I thought this was one of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever seen. I shot away, and maybe some 45 exposures later (film) have forever since loved this one.

It rests, well framed (museum glass) on the wall at the dining room table. I secured hand written calligraphy, done by a well remembered, and widely revered Rabbi. At my urging, in a beautiful Hebrew hand, he wrote a thought taken from the morning prayers, roughly meaning ‘How beautiful are G-d’s creations.’

Found wherever there’s a hackberry trees nearby, from New Hampshire to Florida, from Arizona to Wisconsin, give or take.

When I was flourishing in real estate in the ’80’s, I Loved to shop in upscale men’s stores in NYNY, and my favorites were brown hats, suits and brown shoes.

I have a real fondness for this image. Marcie and Caron evoked that, they did.

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Paw Paw bushes grew nearby. This tiny sandy beach encircle a tiny pond, all within view of majestic Chesapeake. The drive to Mason’s Neck State Park was lined with serious mansions owned by the DuPont family and friends, so I was told.

Zebra Swallowtail butterflies were new to me. That did not prepare me for this From Here To Eternity encounter. I was all agog, and I thought that they’d break that amorous embrace when I approached. Nope. They stayed as you see, intent on the ‘romance,’ for at least 40 minutes. My close approach, with apologies, did not startle them, not one bit.

This qualifies as a Caron 6. I’m trying to remember the actors in that movie? Can you help me, for this so evoked that long remembered scene.

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Straight To The Point I will go. I was at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in the Delmarva peninsula of Maryland. This largish skipper was seen quietly resting, some 200 feet or so from the shore of the Chesepeake Bay. Here he (?) is. Skipper bedevil me. After spending much time with Glassberg’s A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America, I continue to be stumped? What skipper is this? Crossline skipper?

Harry, Jeffrey, Mr. Pyle, . . . the loneliness of the long distance runner is what we reveal here. Anyway, where did that line come from?

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That March hike along the Kedesh Trail in the Upper Galilee region of Israel. Me searching for butterflies, especially rare little blues. It’s hard I tell you, for my eyes kept locking in on fetching beautiful wildflowers. 20% counterproductive, for most cannot look for butterflies and notice new wildflowers at the same time. Fascination for the one means you will well miss the other.